A Data Fusion Technique to Detect Wireless Network Virtual Jamming Attacks

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Wireless communications are potentially exposed to jamming due to the openness of the medium and, in particular, to virtual jamming, which allows more energy-efficient attacks. In this paper we tackle the problem of virtual jamming attacks on IEEE 802.11 networks and present a data fusion solution for the detection of a type of virtual jamming attack (namely, NAV attacks), based on the real-time monitoring of a set of metrics. The detection performance is evaluated in a number of real scenarios

Trilateral Arms Control? Perspectives from Washington, Moscow, and Beijing

With the end of the INF Treaty in 2019, trilateral arms control - meaning arms control between the United States, Russia, and China - has gained center stage. Only shortly after the U.S. withdrawal, U.S. President Trump declared that he wants a new nuclear pact to be signed by both Russia and China. Other U.S. administration officials have set the goal of including China in a future follow-on framework to the New START agreement, which expires in February 2021. Then again, could trilateral arms control be possible at all? What would be necessary conditions? Why should Washington, Moscow, and Beijing engage in an uncertain endeavor that promises to significantly affect their strategic relationships? The authors of this study address those and other questions

Insights into the role of deep-sea squids of the genus Histioteuthis (Histioteuthidae) in the life cycle of ascaridoid parasites in the Central Mediterranean Sea waters

Ascaridoid nematodes comprise a wide range of heteroxenous parasites infecting top fish predators and marine mammals as definitive hosts, with crustaceans, squids, and fishes acting as intermediate/paratenic hosts. Limited data exist on the species and role of several intermediate and paratenic hosts in the life cycle of these parasites. In the aim of adding knowledge on the role of squid species in their life cycle, we have here investigated the larval ascaridoid nematodes collected from the deep-sea umbrella squid Histioteuthis bonnelli and the reverse jewel squid Histioteuthis reversa captured in the Central Mediterranean Sea (Tyrrhenian Sea). Morphological study and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2 (mtDNA cox2) gene locus revealed the occurrence of Anisakis physeteris and of an unidentified species of the genus Lappetascaris. Sequence analysis revealed that specimens of Lappetascaris from both squid species matched at 100% sequences previously deposited in GenBank from larval ascaridoids collected in octopuses of the genus Eledone of the Mediterranean Sea. The Bayesian inference tree topology obtained from the analysis of the fragments amplified showed that Lappetascaris specimens were included in a major clade comprising Hysterothylacium species collected in fishes of the families Xiphiidae and Istiophoridae. As regards the site of infection in the squid host species, A. physeteris larvae predominated (60.7%) in the gonads, while those of Lappetascaris (76.3%) were found infecting the mantle musculature. The overall high values of parasitic load suggest both squid species as transmitting hosts of third stage larvae of Lappetascaris to top predator fishes, as well as the umbrella squid as an intermediate/paratenic host in the life cycle of A. physeteris in the Mediterranean Sea

Wound Healing in the α2β1 Integrin-Deficient Mouse: Altered Keratinocyte Biology and Dysregulated Matrix Metalloproteinase Expression

The alpha2beta1 integrin, a collagen/laminin receptor, is expressed at high level in the basal cell layer of the epidermis. To define the role of the alpha2beta1 integrin in wound healing, wound repair was extensively evaluated in wild-type and alpha2-null mice in vivo. In addition, the impact of alpha2beta1 integrin-deficiency on the function of primary murine keratinocytes in vitro was analyzed. Our in vivo findings demonstrate that genetic deletion of the alpha2beta1 integrin does not significantly alter the rate of re-epithelialization, collagen deposition, or tensile strength during wound closure in mice. In marked contrast to the observed similarities in wound healing, deletion of the alpha2beta1 integrin resulted in a dramatic increase in neoangiogenesis in the wound microenvironment. In contrast to in vivo studies, primary keratinocytes from alpha2-null mice adhered poorly and displayed impaired migration on type I collagen in vitro. We demonstrate that alpha2beta1 integrin-ligation negatively regulates expression of genes including matrix metalloproteinases both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the changes in gene expression could potentially account for relatively normal wound healing in the alpha2-deficient mouse and our recent observation that suggests an antiangiogenic role for the alpha2beta1 integrin in vivo

Scones: Towards Conversational Authoring of Sketches

Iteratively refining and critiquing sketches are crucial steps to developing effective designs. We introduce Scones, a mixed-initiative, machine-learning-driven system that enables users to iteratively author sketches from text instructions. Scones is a novel deep-learning-based system that iteratively generates scenes of sketched objects composed with semantic specifications from natural language. Scones exceeds state-of-the-art performance on a text-based scene modification task, and introduces a mask-conditioned sketching model that can generate sketches with poses specified by high-level scene information. In an exploratory user evaluation of Scones, participants reported enjoying an iterative drawing task with Scones, and suggested additional features for further applications. We believe Scones is an early step towards automated, intelligent systems that support human-in-the-loop applications for communicating ideas through sketching in art and design.Comment: Long Paper, IUI '20: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Intelligent User Interface